Electrical connector.



R. H. WELLES.

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR.

AYPLIOATION IILD APR. 17, 1912.`

15,045481 Patented Mar. 4, 1913.

UNITED y.STATES PATENT orriou.

RICHARD H. WELLES, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BADGER BRASS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION F WIS- CONSIN.

ELECTRICAL To all whom 'it mag/concem:

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. VELLES,

a citizen of the United-States, residingin the city of Kenosha, county of Kenosha, and State of Wisconsin, have inventedvcertain new and-useful Improvements in Electrical Connectors, of which the following is a specification.

This invent-ion relates to improvements in electrical connectors and'in the present in.- stance is shown applied to an electrically lighted headlight., although not necessarily confined to'such use.

The salient object of the invention is to provide simple and effective means for locking the connector plug within its shell or casing and' in such a way that the plug may be readily removed and replaced without the necessity of using screws, or other tool operated locking means also to provide a construction in which the foregoing object is obtained by means of a simple U-shapedlocking member or C-cotter and in general to provide an improved construction of the character described.

The invent-ion consists in the matters hereinafterdescribed and more particularly pointed out in the appendedv claims.

Referring to the drawings-Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of an electrically lighted headlight equipped with my inven.-

tion;I 2 1s a perspective view showing the rparts unassembled; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the parts assembled; Fig.

4, is a view taken on lines ele-tot Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view t-alren on lines of Fig. 1.

In the drawings 1 designates `an electrical headlight of well known type, to the lower end of which is fixed a bushing Q,

. through which extends a cylindrical shell or casing 3, which forms alamp lixture and also serves as a casingfor the various contact terminals hereinafter described. `With. iu..-th`e' shell 3 is mounted the usual Contact 'plug ll, made of insulating material and cylindrical in form as shown in the drawings. This plug is bored to receive the upper Contact pins 5, 5, and lower contact pins 62 6, which are spring `supported shown' at 7.. The contact pins and their expansion springs 7 are preferably mounted in sleeves 8, all in the usual manner.

The upper` end of the sleeve 0r shell 3 re- 'ceives the base 9 of the lamp L. The latter Specicaticn of Letters Patent.

CONNECTOR.

` Patented Mar. 4,1913.

1912. serial No. 691,434.

is locked tothe sleeve by pins 10 engaging bayonet slots 11 in the upper end of the lsleeve or casing. The lower end of the lamp base hascontact platesl 12' which en gageth'e'upper pins 5 and are held in electrical Contact therewith by the springs 7. lVithin the-lower end ofthe casing 3 secured a cylindrical insulating block or plug 13 which receivesthe metal terminal tips 14 which engage the; lower contact pins 6 as shown clearly in Fig. Ll. The lowerend of eacht-erminal tip is suitably soldered or' .otherwise secured to the supply conductors 15. The plug 13 is det-achably locked to the casing by pins 13 engaging a bayonet slot. 1l. A removable/screw threaded cap 16 covers-the parts and prevents the plug working loose. circuiting of the terminals 14 when the plug is removed` 4I provide the insulating block 1.3 with a projection. 17 which bridges the conta et screws 18 which form the upper ends` of the terminal tips 1l. In like manner the lower end of the plug 13 is provided with an insulated extension 19 which tits between the conductors 15 and vprevents the latter being squeezed together. and thus short circuiting. This extension 19'is curved so as to t around the conductors l5. These insulating extensions however, form no part- 'of'.the present invention and need not` be further described.

Referring now to the manner of locking the connector plug l'within the casing which forms the salient' object of the invention, the plug i is provided with a pair ofoppositely disposed grooves 20, near its. upper end, formed by recessing the sides of the plug or insulating block. Directly opposite the grooves 20 the easing 3. is slotted. as shown at 21, the slots- 21 beingdirectly opposite the grooves 20 when the plug is in its position within the casing. The plug is locked in this position by means of a U-shaped spring gripping member 22 having parallel spring arms 23 entering the slots 21 and yengatp'ng the grooves Q0 of the plug. The 'arms tend to spring inwardly andthe arrangement is such that the plug is effectively locked to the casing. The U-shaped gripping memberor reverse C-eotter which it may be called, since itacts the reverse of a cotter pin and serves the same purpose, is obviously readily snapped in position or removed from the als ln order to prevent short `casing, terminal plugs havin connector. Nevertheless, its spring grip is such as to obviate any possibility of its working loose and releasing the connector plug. The position of the grooves 20 and slots 21 may be more or less varied as long as they are in register, andthe shape of the member 22 may also be Inolied.

The essence of the present invention consists in its simplicity andl economy of construction combined With its effectiveness in performin its function. The disadvantages which resu t from the shearing of or`working loose of screws in constructions hereto. fore used, is obviated. In addition, the cas, ing and insulated plugs may now all be connected without the use of a screw-driver or other tools.

In its broader as ct the invent-ion is not limited to the detai s of construction shown.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an electrical .connector the combination with a hollow shell-like cylindrical contact devices and detachably connecte at either end of said casing, a cylindrical connector plug detachably seated within said casing and provided with contact pins for affording electrical connections between the contact devices of the terminal plugs, said connector plug having oppositely disposed grooves at its periphery registering with similarly formed slots in the periphery Aof the casing and a U-shaped spring gripping member en gaging said-slots and grooves for detachably locliingthe connector plug to the -casing.

2. In an electrical connector, the combination with a cylindrical shell like casing, of a terminal plug detachably engaging either end of said casing, vsaid terminal plugs l1aving cont-act devices, a grooved connector plug interposed between the terminal plugs and having contact pins engaging the con-` tact devices of said latter plugs,

said casing being slotted opposite the grooved portion of the connector plug and a U-shaped spring gripping member engaging the fitting in said slots and locking the connector plug to the casing. e

3. In an electrical connector, the combination with a cylindrical shell-like casing, of a connector plug Within said casing, said plug having oppositely disposed grooves in itsV periphery registering with slots formed similarly in the casing and a spring gripping member having arms Aengagingthe slot-s and grooves and detachably locking the connector plug to the casing, said spring gripping memberbeing confined in position solely by its spring gripping engagement` with said lgrooves and slots.

RICHARD H. WELLES. Witnesses:

JQ `W. SCHMITT, N. L. THOMAS. 

